City schools: Superintendent exits, unhealthy status quo remains

Bill Kowba’s announcement that he would retire on June 30 after three years as superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District prompted several tributes to the former Navy admiral for his role in stabilizing city schools.

But as much as we think highly of Kowba the man and admire his military service, the status quo he helped stabilize is not a healthy one. Acting at the behest of school board members in thrall to the teachers union that got them elected, the state’s second-largest school district continues to give far more emphasis to keeping adult employees happy than to the needs of its 131,000 students – and it does so in a way that punishes future students for decades to come.

The central goal of the school board is to preserve pay practices that award automatic raises to teachers for 15 of their first 20 years on the jobs, as well as raises for completing often-irrelevant graduate courses. Because of these policies, 92 percent of the operating budget is eaten up by employee compensation.

The board’s need to constantly free up money for teacher pay has led to a long series of abusive and irresponsible policies.

For years, parents and students were pressured to pay for educational supplies, violating the state Constitution.

A recent state Senate report found that the district improperly diverted $4.5 million in federal funds intended for school lunch programs in the 2010-11 school year, and apparently more federal dollars in other years.

But perhaps most egregious of all has been the district’s bond practices.

In 2010, facing a cash shortfall, San Diego Unified issued $164 million in exotic capital appreciation bonds that will end up costing nearly $1.2 billion because the terms prohibit the district from beginning to pay down the principal for decades.

What’s worse is San Diego Unified’s decision to use 30-year borrowing to pay for a wide range of expenses that have historically been covered by the operating budget. “Construction bonds” are supposed to be used for capital improvements – schools, gyms, things that last. But some of money from the $2.1 billion Proposition S bond measure in 2008 was used to buy nearly 100,000 laptops and iPads, which are only likely to last a few years. Bond funds were also used for the most routine maintenance, even on the newest schools. District officials are unapologetic and prepared to do the same with funds from the $2.5 billion Proposition Z bond measure approved last year.

And so school budgets in 2043 are going to still be paying for electronic devices that have been out of use for more than a quarter-century, and for basic upkeep of schools performed this year. That’s crazy.

If a publicly held private company operated in such fashion, the Securities and Exchange Commission would be deposing every executive in sight, and court dockets would fill up with shareholder lawsuits.

This is why it is our fervent hope that San Diego Unified adopts a responsible management model. Addressing short-term budget headaches with solutions that will cause problems for decades to come is the opposite of responsible.